Dwemer
Dwemer were an ancient race of elves sometimes called dwarves or 'deep elves.'They are a lost humanoid race on Tamriel. For a while, they used the falmer as slaves. They appear in the "Elder Scrolls" series. Introduction Dwemer lived mainly in the regions of Vvardenfell, Hammerfell and Skyrim. They are known for their impressive craftsmanship and had a prowess for technology. Dwemer were first dubbed as dwarve by a larger race, known simply as the giant. They were described as independent and reclusive that dedicated their time to engineering, science and alchemy. Not long ago, they disappeared into thin air all at the same time from an unknown cause. The last remaining dwemer on Nirn in Yagrum Bagarn who dwells within the Corprusarium beneath the island known as Vvardenfell. This dwemer is affected with corprus which grants him a lifetime that never ends but puts him in chronic pain. When last encountered by the Nerevarine, he was searching for clues about his races' location or whereabouts. History Dwemer activity dates all the way back to the First Era, most notably in the island region of Vvardenfell which meant "City of the Strong Shield". It had the highest amount of dwemer ruins on Tamriel. They were involved in a feud with the chimer, the race the dunmer descended from. The feud continued till the First Council was established which was an alliance between the dwemer and chimer. However, one clan known as the Rourken refused to make peace with the chimer and their patriarch threw his ceremonial warhammer named Volendrung across Tamriel, wherever it landed, he said that's where the Rourken clan would head to the warhammer's location and settle there. It landed in what is now known as Hammerfell and that's where they settled. The patriarch named the land Hammefell for obvious reasons, currently though the redguard live there. Eventually tensions between the chimer and dwemer resurfaced. A major war began between the two races which eventually lead to the disappearance of the dwemer race altogether during the Battle for Red Mountain. The difficulty was prompted by the discovery of a mythological artifact known as the Heart of Lorkhan by the Dwemer, deep in the mountains' bowels. Kagaranec, the Chief Tonal Architect was their de-facto religious leader who devised a set of tools, Sunder, Keening and Wraithguard, to manipulate Heart to instill divinity to his people, but the spell failed and caused all known dwemer to vanish. Varying documents state that the their connection to the Heart was damaged, although this seemed unlikely. Other accounts suggest that Kagrenac used his Tools to release the dwemer from the Mortal Plane, but this was even more implausible. Since the year of 1E 668, nothing has been heard of the dwemer, other than Yagrum Bagarn, who resided in the Corprusarium of Tel Fyr. At the time of the disappearance he was in an Outer Realm which was an alternate dimension. His three thousand years of exploration and five hundred years of investigation have yielded no leads on the presence of his people on Mundus or any other plane of existence currently known. Many dwemer mysteries related to their creations were left behind. Mages Guild investigators had discovered that if one of the centurion spiders was taken away from Vvardenfell, it gradually became more sluggish, eventually going into a state of torpor.Even more interesting upon return the re-activated back to it's normal aggressive level as if it sensed dwemer ruins nearby. Strangely, the dwemer robots re-activated in Hammerfell as well. Dwemer artifacts were highly prized throughout the Empire, although since they were technically the property of the Emperor under the charter of the Imperial Society of Architecture and Design as well as the Imperial Historical Society, the sale of them was illegal. This seemed not to end from falling off the back of wagons or otherwise disappearing into different collections. Dwemer armor and weapons were famous since the dwemer were renowned for their amazing craftsmanship and sturdy design. Dwarven blades were constructed by a series of folded Dwemer metal sheets which made these weapons very strong and the armor was polished so blades would simply slip on it, though this affect may have been worn away over the centuries. However acquiring these artifacts was extremely risky because of the remote location. Plus inside the dwemer ruins Steam Centurions, small robotic spiders and sophisticated traps existed within the ruins making it a dangerous journey. Culture The dwemer were an Elven Clan that were reclusive and resided in Morrowind during the First Era. In general, they were quite powerful and preferred to use technology instead of magic. Dwemer that lived in Stros M'kai were reliant on steam power. They lived in great half-subterranean buildings and created mechanical creatures known as Animunculi as well as other devices. According to many schoalrs from the First Era, the nords, dunmer and redguards and possibly even some gods were terrified of this race. Some dunmer scholars might say, in this respect, that the Dwemer were blasphemous. They challenged the power of the Et'Ada, the Aedra and Daedra, questioned their authority, and traveled into the Outer Realms of Aetherius and Oblivion. Many scholars agreed that those factors may have led to their demise. The defining aspect of the dwemer was their use of Lorkhan's heart. According to legend, after Lorkhan tricked or convinced the Aedra to create the mortal realm, they tore out his divine heart and threw it down to Nirn, to be hidden for eternity. The dwemer found this heart, researched about it and used its divine power to construct many things. They created the blade and tuning fork Keening and the hammer Sunder, along with the Wraithguard, to tap the power of the Heart. One of the things they built with the divine power of Lorkhan's heart was a large golem known as Numidium, or otherwise called Brass God, which was designed to help them transcend the Grey Maybe, Nirn, the Mortal Realm by drawing power directly from the Heart. In other words, this golem was more than just a destructive force. It was a legit new God that the dwemer had constructed from the substance of Lorkhan, the "deceased" god. After the Dwemer disappeared, Numidium made a reappearance in a weaker form when Tiber Septim used its power to conquer all of Tamriel and forge the Third Era. Secondly, the last living Dwarf, Yagrum Bagarn, said that when the Dwemer disappeared he was in the "Outer Realms", and thus did not disappear with them. The Outer Realms referred to that which was outside of Nirn, whether it was Aetherius, Oblivion, or some other "location" in the Aurbis is unclear. This showed the people that the dwemer could move their bodies out of the Mortal Plane and traverse beyond normal bounds. This idea was backed up by Baladas Demnevanni, who said that the Dwemer had practiced "generations of ritualistic 'anti-creations'", which possibly contributed to their disappearance. It was unknown whether The Calling and those anti-creations were a natural or learned trait or whether they stemmed from some technology or from some use of the Heart. Crafts & Technology Metalworking was the main method of used to make all dwemer constructs. However, more easily destructible materials such as clay, paper, and glass cannot be discounted from the scope of Dwarven craftsmanship. Given the approach of dwemer design to favor the long-lasting over the fragile, it can safely be predicted that at the very least metal was a heavy preference. And the metal used in all so-far-discovered Dwarven relics is entirely unique to their culture. No other race has been able to copy the way dwarven metal was crafted. It can easily be confused with bronze, but it is it's own type of metal. The method of producing dwarven metal has been lost to time as all attempts to imitate dwarven metal's exclusive properties have not succeeded. The only successful method is to melt down existing metallic dwarven scraps and restart from there. Dwemer created and manufactured on a very broad scale thousands of mechanical apparatuses of varying complexity. These constructs are referred to as automatons or better known as Animunculi. Numerous ones can be found in ancient dwemer ruins. The simplest dwarven construct is the robotic spider used to ward off trespassers. The design of the automatons themselves resemble a fusion of fantasy and steampunk designs, featuring shiny brass cogs and gears. Most automatons contain a Soul Gem which is believed what brought these constructs to life, but also somehow acts as a boiler due to the extreme energy held within their bodies. In some automatons, such as the Dwarven Spider Guardian, the soul gems acts as a source of destruction magic, being able to attack trespassers with lightning. Dwemer created an impressive device called the Lexicon that allowed them to read Elder Scrolls without going crazy or losing vision.